To the Citizens of Butts County:

As you know, our nation, state and community is in the midst of a great deal of uncertainty as we deal with a rapidly evolving COVID-19 Coronavirus situation. We are sure that to some degree, each of you have in some way been affected by this situation, be it with school-age children, elderly loved ones, business concerns and much more. Your County government has also been significantly impacted, along with every local government in Georgia. Our mission is to provide service to our citizens, but to do that we have to also protect our greatest assets to the highest degree possible: our employees. If our employees are placed at a higher risk and become infected, it can reduce our workforce and reduce our ability to provide essential services to the public.

In order to continue daily government operations to the highest level we can, and to afford our employees as much protection as we can, we are taking steps to follow directives from Public Health, the State of Georgia, the Centers for Disease Control and the White House to limit exposure and to hopefully do our part to slow the spread of Coronavirus. These steps are outlined below.

First, effective March 18th, the County Administration Building will be closed to the public. County employees will continue to work and do their jobs but interaction with the public will be limited to telephone and email. Some offices, such as the Courts, also have the ability to E-File cases. A directory of all County offices can be found on our website at www.buttscountyga.com with telephone numbers. This closure will likely be until the end of the month at minimum. Public offices in the Administration Building include Tax Assessors, Tax Commissioner, Elections, Planning and Development, Administration, the District Attorney and the Development Authority.

The Courts, in accordance with the orders from the State Supreme Court, have also limited their activities and access from the public, but they are open and can be reached by telephone as well. Normal court cases, however, are suspended until further notice; emergency cases will be at the discretion of the judge having jurisdiction. Routine business matters for court offices should be handled by telephone or electronically.

Our non-critical services such as Parks, Recreation, Senior Center and Library are closed until further notice. All sports programs are postponed for the time being and will be resumed at a future point when it is deemed safe to do so. Seniors are among those at the highest risk of potential infection and are much safer if sheltered at home with limited exposure to others.

Our most essential services, which include 911, Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement will continue to function normally in responding to calls for service. They will take appropriate steps to protect themselves from potential exposure and we ask that you do your part to help by understanding the need for them to take additional precautions when asking questions about exposure, symptoms and related items. Fire stations in the County will be restricted to on-duty personnel only at all times and station personnel will remain on premises except when dispatched to calls.

Our Public Works Department will also continue to function but will limit themselves to potential exposure as much as possible. Our Solid Waste centers will remain open for the time being and site attendants will be on the premises but will not be able to assist citizens with unloading refuse. Please make sure if you transport refuse to a site that you are able to unload these, as personnel are there only to monitor intake and work compactors as needed. Most of our site attendants are retirees and at a higher risk, so these steps are taken to protect them.

In closing, we want to say to everyone in Butts County that we are all in this together and our goal is to continue to provide service to our Citizens. We will do this in the best way we can, while taking the necessary steps to keep our employees safe, just as you would strive to keep your family safe. It is only by working together in the spirit of cooperation, patience and caring for our neighbors that we will come through this crisis in the best way possible. I am very proud of the effort made over the past several days by our staff and employees to prepare, plan and manage this situation and please know that your Board of Commissioners are supporting them and working hard as well to keep our county safe and functioning as normally as possible.

We encourage you to follow our social media for timely updates and changes that may occur. This includes Twitter at the handle @ButtsCountyGa and Facebook on the Butts County Georgia page.

Sincerely

Ken Rivers, Chairman
Keith Douglas, Vice Chairman
Joe Brown, Commissioner
Russ Crumbley, Commissioner
Robert Henderson, Commissioner